Precocious Crush
by Evie Warner
Summary: There has only ever been one person Hiro cares to acknowledge on a day like this. Tadashi hopes he knows the feeling is mutual. / Pure fluff.


**Author's Note:** Because the fandom needs more Hidashi fluff. :D

* * *

It's Thursday the thirteenth, and Hiro sits at his desk, staring down at the pre-mess of cheap glitter and safety glue as he contemplates his predicament.

Being a class of children old enough to use safety scissors, his teacher has issued them a fun assignment in preparation for the season of love. Or so she had put it.

"Take a sheet of card, fold it in half, then decorate it however you like. Once you're done, you can post it to whoever you want."

Most of his classmates natter around him, speaking of plans to dedicate their sentiments to their parents or best friends, and it makes Hiro ponder. He has no parents to offer homemade cards to, and though he loves his Aunt Cass, it just isn't the same. As for friends, he has few to speak of. That had never bothered him, of course, since the only person who's attention Hiro has craved is that of his older brother, Tadashi.

At this, Hiro frowns. Above all else, Tadashi is the person Hiro can openly say he loves. Should _he_ be the one who deserves a card?

Hiro inconspicuously listens in on the background chatter, but in his range of hearing, nobody mentions offering a card to their brother or sister. Normally a loss of an answer doesn't bother him, but today confliction cripples him as he recalls a conversation he heard some weeks ago.

During lunch break, a blonde girl had announced her cousin was getting married, then declared she wanted to get married someday, too. She had promptly picked her own brother as her choice of groom, earning a round of snorts from her gang of friends.

"You can't marry your _brother_," a brunette had declared, "didn't you know? Brother and sisters can't fall in love, and you have to be in love to get married—that's the law."

Hiro, having wandered by on pure chance, had disregarded the debate. Only now, the memory flushes back to him in vivid detail, and it irks him. Really, he thinks it's stupid—a majority of his class are giving a Valantine's gift to their parents, and how is that any different from giving one to a sister, a brother, a cousin, or an aunt? No one said they have to be _in_ love with the card receiver.

With that justification in mind, Hiro's mind is set. He carefully folds the pale pink card in half, then reaches for the crayons.

-0-

Tadashi is waiting for him by the end of the day, as always. He smiles and waves as Hiro runs over, clutching the straps of his backpack, which contains the embellished card, ready for delivery.

As Tadashi idly talks of his crabby new teacher, who has a short temper and voice louder than the end of the day bell, Hiro is only half-listening. He thinks of the next stage of his plan: delivering the card. That in itself would be easy, but all that stops him from unzipping his bag and handing it over to Tadashi then and there is the one rule his teacher had set.

"Don't sign the cards. It's not much of a secret if you tell everyone it was you behind it, now is it?"

And that makes it difficult. If Tadashi found the card in their room, he would know immediately who put it there. While slipping it into his bag is an option, Tadashi is so organized that it wouldn't be hard to piece together who put it there and when.

Hiro frowns. This is the one bump in the road. Sending the card to Tadashi at school might be preferable, but it isn't like Hiro can wander through the halls of Junior High without detection. If only there was a way—

"Ah!" Tadashi exclaims, and slaps a hand to his face. Hiro looks up, wondering what reason Tadashi has to be distressed when his brother elaborates, "I forgot my homework—! He'll put me in detention for a week if I don't do it. Sorry, Hiro. We're gonna have to go back."

Hiro has never believed in Fate or meaningful coincidences before, but as the detour simultaneously paves a way to anonymously deliver the card to his brother, he finds no reason to complain.

Though Tadashi alternates between complaining about the aforementioned homework and apologizing for the detour, Hiro stays silent and lets his brother vent. He keeps his face deceptively blank—thankful Tadashi is too irked to notice—but the card in his pack feels red-hot, burning through the layers of fabric to scald his back.

Once inside the unfamiliar building, Hiro stays in the hall. He insists on it, feigning dislike of the stern teacher Tadashi complained about. Though his brother assures Hiro that he was exaggerating, the ploy works nonetheless, and Tadashi vanishes into the class room with a promise it will take five minutes tops.

Unfortunately, while Hiro is fast and hard to catch, he is not tall. Without the combination, his only hope of wedging the card into Tadashi's locker lies in the slit at the top of the door, and while it's a menial task for anyone a few inches higher, Hiro barely reaches the midway height of the locker with his arms held high.

But on the plus side, Hiro is also pragmatic and _very_ smart. He'd created a hovercraft from a box of scraps! It had been coated in rust, was faulty beyond comprehension, and they'd demolished it on the first test run, but it had _worked_. Thus, finding a way to boost himself up would be a piece of cake.

He scans the empty hallway discreetly, irritation bubbling through him as he locates nothing useful. Nothing to stand on or climb up, not even a passing stranger he could request a favour from. But before the futility can prompt him to rage-quit, he hones in on a nearby door. Or rather, the chipped plaque nailed _to_ the door: it displays the word 'JANITOR' clear as day, and Hiro decides it's just what he needs.

Moving quickly, he twists the doorknob and it grateful to find the door is unlocked. He grabs the first thing he can, which is fortunately a bucket, and drags it out into the hall to press it against Tadashi's locker. How many of those five minutes has he lost? The thought urges Hiro to shrug off his backpack, unzip the compartment and slide out the card before scrambling up on the bucket. Even with the boost, his fingers can barely graze the appropriate height, so he boosts himself up on his toes, guiding the stiff card into the opening with a combination of panic-induced adrenaline and once-in-a-lifetime aim.

Hiro shoves the card through the tight space, then wastes no time in jumping off the bucket, kicking it back inside the closet as he stuffs his arms back through the loops of his backpack. Just as he slams the door shut with an echoing _click_, another door opens and Tadashi steps into the hall.

"Sorry, Hiro. I swear he hates me," Tadashi grumbles, then his gloomy demeanor is overcome by a smile, "but I'll buy you some gummy bears on the way home. Okay?"

Hiro smiles and links his fingers through his brother's just like always, and as they exit the building and stroll through the familiar streets of San Fransokyo, his heart is fluttering every step of the way.

-0-

If there's one thing Tadashi knows, it's that Hiro is a _very_ good liar. However, Hiro is also his baby brother and what goes over a stranger's head through a veil of faux-innocence is clear as day to Tadashi.

It's cute, actually, how Hiro believes he is above suspicion. He wakes up on Friday tense with nerves, waves stiffly to Tadashi as they part ways for school, and the smile he greets him with at the end of the day is plastic. On the walk home, Hiro is talkative as ever, but he twitches and sends erratic glances at his older brother when he believes he isn't looking.

And as Tadashi spends the morning fretting over the possible troubles that plague Hiro, the shattered pieces of the puzzle clip neatly in place as he opens his locker. The small pile of envelopes inside is nothing new—he's received the odd rose and heart-shaped treat for the last four years—but what lies at the bottom peaks his interest.

The first envelopes are dainty and sealed with lipstick, occasionally soaked in perfume, but the last one is stiff and oversized. It's impossible to ease out the card without demolishing the envelope, and the sight of it sends his eyebrows ascending North.

It's homemade, that much is clear, and though glue has been applied with obvious care, the glitter strayed outside of the designated heart outline to smear itself in every direction.

Tadashi recognizes Hiro's handiwork long before he has reason to suspect as such. Inside, his non-existent doubt is eradicated—how couldn't he recognize Hiro's sloppy handwriting? The card is unsigned and contains the most basic Valentine's Day message: **I love you** scrawled in red crayon.

For a moment, Tadashi is frozen as his mind registers the thought so innocently surreal, that he almost doesn't hear the blaring beeps signaling the beginning of class. He shakes his head and slots the card in his pack, where it remains nestled between his books until he remembers it during lunch break.

Hiro sent him a card on Valentine's Day, and Tadashi is torn between baffled laughter and a simple smile. But by the end of the day, as his baby brother shoots discreet glances at the dainty stack of unopened envelopes poking out of Tadashi's bag, the option he picks is the third. He ruffles Hiro's fluffy hair and mentions his secret admirer, lighting up the little boy's face with wonder and—dare he say it—hope.

"It didn't have a name on it, though. Guess I'll never find 'em. Not unless they come clean, huh?"

Hiro muffles his giggles with his sleeve, brown eyes bright and cheeks tinted pink.

-0-

Tadashi stores the card in a shoebox and stashes it under his bed for safe keeping. It lies forgotten as the months drip by, and as the end of the year approaches, Tadashi decides to add the snaffled Christmas candle to his box of mementos.

He's surprised as he rediscovers it, and trails a finger lightly along the glitter heart as he wonders if Hiro recalls his craftsmanship. Unlikely, he decides. Hiro has a good memory, and Tadashi knows that only because his brother never shuts up about memories long forgotten. Hiro hasn't breathed a word of the card since the week after posting it, and by that logic, the younger Hamada's recollection of creating and sending the memento has most likely faded into the back of his subconscious.

Tadashi flips open the card, scattering a few chips of loose glitter in his lap as he drinks in the collage of red crayon and oh-so carefully applied glue. A person usually sends gifts to express affection, and often hope to receive one in return—this card is Hiro's way of expressing _his_ affection, and Tadashi decides it's only polite his baby brother understands the feeling is mutual.

Months in advance, Tadashi plans.

-0-

To put it mildly, Hiro is in shock. He stares at the envelope propped neatly on his bedside like it's a venomous spider preparing to attack and nearly forgets how to breathe. The paper is such a pale shade of pink it's nearly white, and his name is printed neatly in blue ink directly in the centre.

In Tadashi's distinctive handwriting.

It's a Saturday morning and Hiro knows without looking that his brother is already up, no doubt downstairs helping their Aunt with the morning rush. Valentine's Day on a weekend means _biiig_ business. Being alone is somewhat comforting, knowing any action he takes is hidden from prying eyes, but it's in equal parts unnerving, as though someone hides behind the divider just waiting to leap out and proclaim "April Fools!" a month and a half too early.

Maybe it's an hour or merely a minute that Hiro lies in his bed, unmoving since the moment he opened his eyes, but the strength bundles up inside him and coaxes him to sit up and cautiously reach for the item. He plucks it off the table between his index finger and thumb, holding the tip of the corner like the metaphorical spider will bite him if he's too daring, and drops it on his blanket to rest in his lap.

His uncertain doubt is eradicated as he determines that yes, that _is_ Tadashi's handwriting and not a clever forgery. It gives him the courage to flip the envelope over and find the samurai sticker sealing it shut. He peels it off, careful not to tear anything, and slowly slides the card out.

It's a simple white square with cute teddy bear printed on the cover, smiling up at Hiro with a heart-shaped balloon. But the inside intrigues him more, where it's only Tadashi's hand-written words waiting inside, declaring simply: _I love you, too, Hiro_.

And when Aunt Cass arrives in his room to open the blinds and declare "rise and shine!" he (_carefully_) shoves the card beneath his rumpled pillow before she can see it. Hiro dresses and half-heartedly makes his bed in utter silence, mind abuzz with thoughts of _Tadashi_ all the while, before he crouches midway down the stairs to the café and quickly locates his brother.

Tadashi is clearing up the table Mrs. Matsuda (who wears an outfit that reaches new realms of inappropriateness) has vacated, and Hiro grips the bannister, content to observe his brother from afar for the time-being. However, Tadashi must have felt the weight of Hiro's gaze on his back, for he turns around not five seconds later and smiles as he meets his little brother's eyes.

And for once in his life, Hiro feels shy under the gaze of Tadashi.

-0-

Come midday, Tadashi is granted freedom. He ascends the stairs to find Hiro, knowing to look in the sanctuary of their shared bedroom, where the boy sits curled up on his favourite beanbag with a purring Mochi on his lap.

He's lost in thought, Tadashi deduces from the glazed look in Hiro's eyes as he stares out the window. "Hiro?"

Sure enough, Hiro jumps slightly as he's pulled from his thoughts, and he ducks his head once he notices Tadashi across the room.

"You've been up here alone all day?"

"No," he hears Hiro mumble, "had Mochi." On cue, the plump cat purrs contently as Hiro's fingers glide through ginger fur. "'M fine, 'Dashi."

Such a dejected aura radiating from Hiro would have prompted Tadashi to drop everything and fuss over his brother until the world was all rainbows and sunshine again. Only today, Tadashi has the benefit of knowing the cause of said emotion, so instead he closes the distance between himself and Hiro to sit in the lesser favoured beanbag next to him.

This time, Tadashi doesn't beat around the bush. "Don't you want to be my Valentine, Hiro?" he teases, prompting the boy to stare at him in surprise. It's only brief, though. Seconds later, Hiro turns away so forcefully that only a swift maneuver from Mochi keeps the cat from face-planting on the floor.

"Aunt Cass'll think you're crazy."

Tadashi comes out victor in the invisible battle to keep himself from laughing. His baby brother is _embarrassed_ and it's the most adorable thing ever.

"Aunt Cass doesn't have to know. Our secret, yeah? She'll get jealous if she finds out."

Hiro folds his tiny arms and it's so _obvious_ he's pouting. "Why d'ya do it?" he murmurs.

"Aww," Tadashi drolls with a well-practiced pout of his own, "you don't like my card, otōto? Did you want a bigger one? Or one that sings?"

"Can't give me a card, 'Dashi. I'm your brother. It's _weird_."

"Oh, really?" Tadashi moves with Mochi-like stealth across the room, grateful Hiro is too stubborn to give in to curiosity and look up. He reaches into his bedside drawer and carefully removes the gift he stashed away for such an occasion. "So," he continues as he sits back down, "does that mean I have to return this?"

At that, Hiro turns. Brown eyes are narrowed in suspicion, then widen incredulously as Hiro sees the clear jar cupped in Tadashi's hands, crammed full of gummy bears with a powder-blue bow stuck on the lid. He's silent as he stares, blinking through his bewilderment before he looks up at Tadashi with questions swimming across his face.

"'S not like you have to be _in_ love with them," Tadashi says with that endearing smile, "so it counts, right? Unless you don't love me ba—"

He doesn't get to finish as Hiro launches himself from his beanbag and clings to him. The jar of gummy bears is wedged uncomfortably between them but neither of them care. Hiro nuzzles his face against Tadashi's collarbone as his arms circle around his neck, and he murmurs, "I do love you, 'Dashi," so quietly that Tadashi would have missed it if they weren't so close.

Tadashi's smile grows and with some effort, he pulls his hands free from their prison between gummy bears and Hiro, who he clings to just as tightly in return as he buries his face in impossibly fluffy hair.

"_Fine_, if you really want me to," Hiro says as he burrows his face into Tadashi's chest (which Tadashi theorizes is to hide flaming-hot cheeks), "I'll be your Valentine. B-but you can't tell Aunt Cass! 'Cause she'll feel left out, y'know ... "

"It's our secret, Hiro," he reassures, rubbing a hand over his brother's back. "Promise."

-0-

* * *

**Author's Note:** Shorter than intended, but for the sake of getting it uploaded today, here it is~

Love, hate, though it was "meh"? Let me know. :)


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